Kiss of the Dragon (2001) is another Jet Li's finest action martial artist film! Kiss of the Dragon was Jet Li's third French movie he ever made that was not a Chinese film. The film was filmed in France and it is a French movie. The film was Directed by Chris Nahon, written and produced by French filmmaker Luc Besson. The film was made to satisfy Li's fans, who requested more realistic fight scenes. It is notable as most of the action sequences did not use CGI or wire work: only two scenes required CGI enhancement and only one scene involved wire work. This is my fourth favorite Jet Li's action martial arts film, his martial arts demonstration are excellent and the martial artist choreographer Emmanuel Lanzi was excellent in his demonstration. We also have Bridget Fonda in her role as a call girl Jessica and Tchéky Karyo as the bad guy from Bad Boys (1995). He always plays the villain in most of his movies and his new villain role was perfectly executed. "In a certain point. Very forbidden. It's called the Kiss of the Dragon." Plot: Martial artist master Jet Li explodes onto the screen as china's top secret agent, whose latest mission in Paris puts him face-to-face with government espionage at the highest level. falsely accused of murder, he must team up with a seductive call girl (Bridget Fonda) to save himself, her and her daughter.The basic plot is about Liu Jian (Jet Li) a police officer from China, comes to Paris to help the vice squad apprehend a Chinese drug lord and his unknown French connection. The French connection is Richard, the head of the vice squad, who intends to kill the drug lord then frame Jian. Jian ducks a bullet and escapes with a tape of what really happened. By chance, Jian turns to Jessica - a US farm girl who is one of Richard's hookers - for help. She has her own problems, including the fact that Richard has her daughter locked in an orphanage to keep Jessica on the streets and silent about his activities. Can Jian protect Jessica, rescue her daughter, and give Richard the kiss of the dragon? The two Jet Li and Bridget Fonda has to help each other when their own common enemy framed Jian for murder and kidnapped Jessica's daughter. This film has a heart, Jet Li does everything at his best including not just clearing his name but he also try's to safe Jessica's daughter. When Richard and his men are using guns, Jian uses his martial arts skills to defeat them. The last fight between Jet and bunch of martial arts students in a Dojo fight scenes with stick fighting was Excellent! Jet Li's opponents uses two sticks as a weapon against him and Jet uses his martial arts to defeat them. I love this film to death I love it. I just want to say from 2001 till 2006 the movies were still good, today they aren't anymore! I have more respect towards Jet Li and I have noon respect towards Jackie Chan! Because the movies that Jackie Chan is filming today is really a disgrace to his fans, my Chinese favorite hero is Jet Li! The title "Kiss of the Dragon" is derived from one of the last scenes in the movie, in which Liu punctures Richard in the back of the neck with an acupuncture needle at a "very forbidden" point on the body. The puncture itself, called "kiss of the dragon", traps all the body's blood in the head and causes side effects of quadriplegia, bleeding from the head's orifices, and a painful death via a brain aneurysm.Director Chris Nahon filmed most of the action sequences without CGI or wire work: only two scenes required CGI enhancement and only one scene involved wire work. Wire work was added to one of the last fight sequences between Li and Cyril Raffaelli, in order to add clarity to Raffaelli's kicks, as he was moving too fast for the camera. Nahon had to slow down this fight scene, as both Li and Raffaelli were moving too quickly to be captured clearly at normal recording speed.The French version of the film is notably different from others; it contains a zoomed-out shot of Tcheky Karyo shooting one of his henchmen in the head, resulting in a fountain of blood erupting. This passage was cropped from most international versions of the movie.I think the fight scenes are very realistic and everyone from actors does an awesome excellent job! The Dojo stick fighting is my favorite scene and the fight between Jet Li and Cyril Raffaelli is my favorite realistic martial arts fight.Overall: Kiss of the Dragon is my fourth favorite Jet Li film that I love to death and I am owning it on Blu-ray disc. The rating this film gets 10/10.Kiss of the Dragon is a 2001 action film starring Jet Li, Tchéky Karyo and Bridget Fonda. There is relatively little wire work, unusual for a modern Kung Fu film, resulting in some great fight scenes, especially between Jet Li and Cyril Raffaelli, who plays a henchman. Despite Li's character being a good police officer and a surprisingly good portrayal of the Communist Chinese government, this film was still banned in the People's Republic of China, a fact that Li was not very happy about.10/10 Grade: Bad Ass Seal Of Approval Studio: 20th Century Fox Starring: Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, Tchéky Karyo, Ric Young, Burt Kwouk, Max Ryan, Kentaro, Cyril Raffaelli, Didier Azoulay Director: Chris Nahon Producers: Luc Besson, Jet Li, Steve Chasman, Happy Walters Screenplay: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen Story by Jet Li Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 38 Mins. Budget: $25,000,000 Box Office: $27,592,723

Liu Jian (Jet Li) is a Chinese secret agent arriving in Paris to take down a Chinese drug lord. His French contact is vice squad leader Inspector Richard (Tchéky Karyo). Only Richard is dirty and tries to frame him for the drug lord's killing. Jessica Kamen (Bridget Fonda) is an American farm girl forced into prostitution by Richard. He's holding her daughter in an orphanage. Liu Jian managed to grab the video tape showing Richard shooting the drug lord with his confiscated gun. Then by chance, he runs into Jessica again.This is a Luc Besson production and it has a lot of his touches. Bridget Fonda is back and they even use the laundry chute. It's got some fun Besson-like action. It helps a lot to have Jet Li fighting. The acupuncture needles are a little bit much. The fight in the office with the Twins is amazing. Tchéky Karyo is great at being the villain. The biggest problem I have is the big coincidence. It's beyond ridiculous and rings such a false note. With such a big city, she's hooking right in front of the store.

Jet Li faces off against the French police in this silly martial arts action flick, brought to us by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. The plot, where Jet Li's character, Chinese intelligence officer Liu Jian, is betrayed by Inspector Richard of the French police, who don't really operate like any police force I've ever seen... more like a mob of some sorts. They even have their own prostitution ring, and there don't seem to be any consequences for the innocent people that get caught in the crossfire of their gunfights. But Liu, whilst escaping the hotel where he's been framed for murdering a Chinese drug lord, manages to grab enough evidence to prove his innocence on a cassette tape. Richard wants that cassette, and he's willing to do anything to get it back and silence Liu. While that's going on, Liu also becomes acquainted with a prostitute played by Bridget Fonda named Jessica, whose daughter is held by Richard as a form of leverage.Well, the plot is stupid and makes no sense. In a city like Paris, no law enforcement agency would get away with the carnage Richard and his men dish out in their attempts to catch Liu, but that's besides the point. It's a silly, one man army action movie dedicated to Jet Li fans who wanted to see more realistic fight scenes, and that is what we fans get. It's violent and it's fun, and it's a satisfying actioner that requires suspension of disbelief.Suspend and enjoy, my friends.

Can Jian protect Jessica, rescue her daughter, and give Richard the kiss of the dragon? Now, this is just about the stupidest question I have heard this year. Of course, Jet Li can do all that and more. There is no job too big for the super hero without super powers. As usual, there is more action in this film that you can comfortably enjoy in one sitting. You will need to come back over and over to enjoy it.Bridget Fonda (Jessica) hasn't done much lately. I remember her best from "It Could Happen to You." She really performed in this film and added immensely to my enjoyment. Can Jian protect Jessica, rescue her daughter, and give Richard the kiss of the dragon? Get real!